Dreams of Death

I yawned and stretched as Ianto and Gwen left the Hub together. It was vaguely annoying to watch them both leave, but he really did have a lot of work to do.

Rubbing the back of my head, I tapped a few keys at the main computer and sighed at the sight of the depressingly inactive rift.

I never would have admitted it, but for once I'd have liked it if there was something I could go kill by myself. Like a zen activity. Admittedly not the most orthodox method, but still_

My thoughts abruptly broke off as the whole building shook and the lights spat the dummy.

'Yes!' I shouted over the deep rumbling beneath my feet, and then looked around guiltily.

I jumped over to the main computer and grinned rakishly as I saw the rift activity spike up dramatically.

My eyes widened and the smile slipped off my face as I realized the rift energy was right next to me.

Actually, it was more like it was right with me_

'Oh, damn...'

I held up one of my hands and examined the red tendrils snaking round my forearm.

Since when was this better than going home with Ianto?

As the tendrils slithered around my legs, I tripped over to my desk and grabbed my coat.

The next thing I knew I was sprawled out face down on a road.

Getting to my feet, I looked around.

I appeared to have landed on a road between two thick rows of trees.

I looked up. The sky was completely black. There were no stars, no moon, nothing. What the hell?

'Must be cloudy,' I muttered, throwing on my coat and turning around.

I stopped dead, then sprinted forward and dropped to my knees.

There was a man lying in a pool of blood in the middle of road. He was face down and completely unmoving.

I bit my lip and reached for the man's wrist, though I knew I wouldn't find anything.

This scene would never have unnerved me usually, but the combination of the odd, grim, thickly growing trees, the sky and also the fact that the dead man's skin was green put me very slightly on edge.

Automatically I pressed at my earcom, but there was no signal.

'Okay, so I'm not on Earth, there's a dead guy with green skin surrounded by traffic cones but there's not anyone actually here apart from me, this place is creepy and weird, and I'm talking to myself. Great.'

I reached out to turn the man over, but a voice from behind me stopped me.

'I wouldn't touch him.'

I leapt to my feet and spun around in one motion, my hand flying to the gun holster at my hip.

Unexpectedly, there stood a girl.

She looked around fifteen or sixteen. She was wearing a pink top with a checkered pattern at the chest, a purple skirt, long white socks and red shoes. Her long brown hair was done in braids.

One of her hands was hanging loosely by her side, but the other was hidden behind her back.

She had incredible, large, long-lashed brown eyes, and she looked at me calmly.

A shiver ran down my spine at that gaze.

I raised my eyebrows. 'Oh yeah? Why's that?'

Her beautiful eyes dropped to the corpse. 'Because it's not meant to be like that,' she told me, her indifferent tone perfectly matching the dreary scene.

'Who is this? Why is he still here?' I asked, fighting to keep his voice soothing.

The girl didn't respond, but she resumed staring at me with low curiosity.

'Why are you speaking?' she asked. 'I've never seen you around here before.'

''Let's say I'm new round here.'

'That's not possible. I've been here a lot of times. You can't just come along. It doesn't happen.'

'Yeah? I get that all the time, kid.'

She seemed unfazed.

'Did you see him die?' I asked, nodding at the body.

'I'm not convinced he is dead all the time... watch.'

She meowed like a cat, and I stared in shock as the dead man twitched in his own blood.

'But he is, never mind. He never moves other than that,' the girl said, and turned away, starting to walk down the road.

'Wait!'

She looked back.

'I didn't catch your name,' I said.

'You should already know... it's Madotsuki.'

'What is that, Japanese? I used to have a Japanese friend. Her name was Toshiko.'

'Yes, it's Japanese.'

'You don't look it.'

'Of course not. Do you have a name?'

'Yeah,' I said, walking up beside her. 'Captain Jack Harkness. Now could you tell me where the hell I am?'

'Interesting. You're named differently. Do you die like the others?'

'What did you just say to me?'

She tilted her head to one side, still staring at him, and then she whipped the hidden hand up.

She was holding a wickedly sharp knife.

I froze.

'Why don't you put that down now.'

'I'm curious.'

With no further warning, she stabbed the knife into my heart.

Rendered speechless by the metallic pooling in my throat and mouth, I couldn't do anything but stare at her in horror as I heavily dropped to my knees, then fell forward.

I struggled to look at Madotsuki and caught one glance of her wide, emotionless eyes before everything went black.

Minutes of burning pain later, I opened my eyes and jumped to my feet, the stab wound completing the healing process as I did so.

'Right, now that made me_'

I blinked in surprise, breaking off mid-sentence.

I was not when I had been.

I looked around, spun in a dizzy circle. All around me was black and white.

The ground was white. I crouched down and rubbed some of the ground between my fingers_ it was sand.

I was standing in a huge, blinding white desert.

There were some black structures about fifty metres away, so I started walking, pulling out my gun as I did so.

There was a road running through the first tunnel I met, so I slipped inside, weapon held high, feeling like I was in one of those dumb cop movies where the cop goes into the dark room alone.

Another girl stood with her back to me.

'Hey.'

She turned around slowly, and I frowned in confusion.

This girl was wearing what looked like a school uniform_ a white buttoned and collared shirt, a dark skirt, knee-high white socks. Her hair was in high pigtails.

Her face was wrought in an expression of despair.

Though this bothered me, I figured it was more of a priority to find Madotsuki than to cheer this girl up.

'Have you seen a girl with brown hair? About so high, wearing pink and purple, probably with a knife?'

The girl stared at me in her vague horror.

'Hello?'

Nothing but that unnerving gaze.

'Can you hear me?'

She turned away.

I left the tunnel.

I stood in the brilliant white and yelled at the sky, 'Where the hell am I?' Not that I thought that would help.

A balloon with feet floated past.

I watched it go in disbelief, then stalked off towards the next tunnel, determined to find Madotsuki.

There was something about this place that gave me a creeping sense of dread, even though nothing was really happening at all.

There was a creature patrolling in front of the next tunnel. It had one of the most out of proportion heads I'd ever seen.

'Hey,' I shouted at it.

It stared at me.

I stared at it.

It stared at me.

Sick of this, I held up my gun.

'You tell me where I am right now, okay? I don't care if you feel like pretending you can't talk because you probably can!'

I'd be coming closer this whole time, and the thing started backing away, staring at me emotionlessly.

'Tell me!' I shouted.

It backed away a little more.

I fired.

A spurt of blood burst from its chest, and a faint, muted scream rang in my ears before the thing faded away.

I stared in shock. Why had I done that? What was happening to me?

Trying to stop my hands from shaking as I jammed the gun away back in my belt, I ventured into the darkness of the tunnel.

Seeing nothing but black, I sighed, looking around.

I felt a tap on my shoulder.

I whirled around.

In front of me was yet another chick, except she looked different.

She had long, free black hair, and was smiling almost smugly at me. She wore an outfit similar to the depressed girl's, except her white shirt wasn't a button-up, and her skirt was shorter, less modest.

Yeah, she was hot.

'Alright, three questions, gorgeous_ Can you talk, where am I, and do you know where I can find a girl with brown braids and a pink shirt?'

Tossing her hair, she replied, 'Of course I can talk, handsome. We all can_ we just prefer not to.

'You're in my area of the White Desert, which is where me and my sister live. My brother used to live here too, but he left. My sister's little and has pigtails. She doesn't like to leave her tunnel.

'As for Madotsuki, I've got no idea where she is right now. She'll be around.'

She had a striking, confident, womanly voice, and didn't flinch at all when our eyes met.

'What's your name?' she asked.

'Captain Jack Harkness and it's nice to meet you. You?'

She smiled. 'I'm Monoe. My sister's Monoko.'

We shook hands.

'There are others living in the White Desert,' Monoe said, drifting away. I walked with her.

'Like who?'

She paused, and looked at me.

'You killed him, didn't you?'

'That thing outside...'

'Yes, him.'

'Yeah, I did.'

She grabbed my collar with both hands and pulled me down to kiss me.

Slightly surprised, since I'd assumed she was upset, I kissed her back then pulled away and raised my eyebrows at her.

She shrugged. 'I had to thank you somehow.'

'Most people don't say thanks with their tongues. Well, I guess they do but_'

She started combing her hair through with her fingers.

'Who was that out there, then?' I asked.

'Just this guy.'

'So, I shoot just some guy and just some guy dies in one of the more unnerving ways I've seen, and you thank me by kissing me. That's a bit weird.'

'He follows me around,' Monoe said, still not looking at me. 'When I go outside. He never leaves me alone. Most of the time he's got me too terrified to leave here. When I am outside he never talks, he just stares. He's the worst. I know he can talk, my brother told me before he left.

When I'm in here, he just stands outside and waits for me to come out again. So I lock the tunnel off and don't let anyone in.'

'And I just killed him?' I asked.

She sighed. 'Well, yes, but he'll be back. But I always let anyone who kills him in. It's usually Madotsuki, but she frightens me, so I just smile at her to show my gratitude and run off.'

'Wait... he comes back to life?'

Monoe shrugged. 'Why shouldn't he? When you go out I bet he'll be back.'

'And what happens when Madotsuki finds you again?'

'Sometimes she kills me. It's fine.'

I grabbed Monoe by the shoulders and spun her to face me.

'How can you come back to life after she's killed you, Monoe?'

Monoe frowned at me curiously.

'Don't you understand anything about this place, Captain?'

'As a matter of fact, no! I don't know where I am, or who any of you people are, or what planet I'm on, or why you all seem to know everything, or_'

She pressed a finger to my lips. 'Okay, okay.'

'So for the last and final time. Where. Am. I.'

'You're in Madotsuki's head.'

There was a silence.

'What.'

'Don't you understand? This place_ every world_ it's not real, Jack. This is Madotsuki's dream world.'